NEWS

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work will host its ninth-annual Hunger Banquet at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 16.

Organizers have planned the event, to be held on the fifth floor of the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, as a visual representation of the unequal distribution of resources and wealth worldwide. Tickets are $5 per person.

Each guest draws a ticket randomly assigning him or her to the high-, middle- or low-income tier and is served a meal consistent with that income level. Those in the high-income tier, representing about 15 percent of banquet attendees, are served a sumptuous gourmet meal. Those in the middle-income tier, about 30 percent of attendees, eat a simple meal of rice and beans. The majority, about 55 percent, in the low-income tier wait in line for small portions of rice and water.

The Hunger Banquet is organized to raise awareness about hunger and poverty and to raise funds for local and international agencies working to address these issues. Half of the proceeds will go to Oxfam, an international organization, and half will go to SEEDS, a grassroots agency in Durham.

David Swanson will be the event’s speaker, and Heidi Sidelinker and the Raging Grannies will provide entertainment. Swanson has worked for international development programs for 14 years in Namibia, Ghana, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries.

"The Hunger Banquet is a powerful tool that brings to life the inequalities in our world and challenges us, as the more economically fortunate, to realize how our decisions affect others in the world," said Dorothy "Dee" Gamble, a clinical associate professor in the School of Social Work. "Few leave the Hunger Banquet with full stomachs, but all leave filled with a greater understanding of the problems of global hunger and poverty and the motivation to do something about it."

For more information or to order a ticket, email gravesolutions@hotmail.com.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu